Conference Schedule
Schedule of Events
Monday, August 31
| 11:00 AM | NCHBA Building Codes Committee & Update |
| 1:00 PM | NCHBA Executive Committee Meeting |
| 2:30 PM | NCHBA Board of Directors Meeting |
| 6:30 PM – 10:00 PM | STARS Awards Gala |
Tuesday, September 1
| 7:30 AM – 4:20 PM | NCBI Continuing Education Classes |
| 8:00 AM – 9:30 AM | Housing Forecast Breakfast – Dr. Rob Dietz |
| 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM | Morning Breakouts |
| 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM | Keynote Speaker Luncheon – Scott Tillema |
| 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM | Afternoon Breakouts |
| 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM | NCHBA Legislative Commitee & Elections Update |
| 4:15 PM – 6:00 PM | Toolbelt Social (beer, bites & networking) + NAHB Build-PAC Auction |
Wednesday, September 2
| 7:30 AM – 4:20 PM | NCBI Continuing Education Classes |
Featured Speakers
Topic: Housing Economic Forecast
Date: September 1, 2026 at 8:00 a.m.
Location: University Ballroom
Dr. Rob Dietz, NAHB Chief Economist
Robert Dietz, Ph.D. is the Chief Economist for NAHB, where he leads a team of 12 economists whose responsibilities include forecasts of housing and economic trends, survey research, and home building industry and policy analysis. Dr. Dietz has published academic research on the private and social benefits of homeownership, federal tax expenditure estimation, and other housing topics. He is the nation’s leading analyst of the residential construction industry. Dr. Dietz has testified before the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, and the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Economic Policy on housing, economic and tax issues. He is a member of the Blue Chip, Wall Street Journal and other top national forecasting panels, has co-chaired the National Association for Business Economics construction/real estate group, and is commonly cited on CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and NPR. Prior to joining NAHB in 2005, Robert worked as an economist for the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation where he estimated the federal budget impact of tax law changes associated with housing and real estate issues. He is a native of Dayton, Ohio, attended George Washington University as an undergraduate and earned a Ph.D. in Economics from The Ohio State University in 2003.
Topic: Keynote Speaker Luncheon
Date: September 1, 2026 at 11:30 a.m.
Location: University Ballroom
Scott Tillema, Hostage Negotiator
Scott Tillema is an internationally recognized crisis negotiator, corporate trainer and professional keynote speaker. He is known and respected for his experience negotiating in emotionally charged incidents, with high stakes and when the situation requires sensitivity to the human element.
Scott has over 20 years of municipal law enforcement experience in the Chicago area and specializes in hostage and crisis negotiation. He was trained by the FBI and spent many years negotiating with one of the largest regional SWAT teams in the United States.
Educationally, Scott holds a master’s degree in psychology, a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science, and has received negotiation training at Harvard University’s Program on Negotiation.
Today, Scott is a partner at The Negotiations Collective, an international negotiations training firm where he provides corporate training and keynote speeches to clients from across the world around the concepts of influence, conflict resolution, and difficult conversations.
Scott is a prolific trainer speaking to audiences of all professions, having provided training at universities, companies and organizations such as Harvard, Microsoft, Bosch, the FBI, multiple YPO chapters, human resource groups, project manager associations, leadership groups and many more.
In 2016, he was invited to give a TEDx talk titled “The Secrets of Hostage Negotiators”, which has received over 1 million views. His visibility as a speaker and educator through TEDx and other venues has reached global status.